The tourism and hospitality sector in Uttar Pradesh, witnessing a rapid recovery in the post-COVID scenario, is leading to a surge in demand for hotel rooms and allied hospitality services.
This sector was among the worst-hit by pandemic as extended lockdown and restrictions of large gatherings had caused a severe blow to hotel and tourism activities.
A large number of hotels in UP, as elsewhere in India, were forced to remain closed for months. However, the present year has seen a revival of business and commercial activities in UP, leading to a large volume of travel. Travel for pilgrimage and tourism has also picked up, leading to good bookings in hotels and other hospitality-related establishments such as travel agencies, transport, etc. There is a huge rush of people in the current summer season, as travel to popular tourist spots as well as to pilgrimage centres has picked up pace.
While the submission of proposals in the recently-concluded Ground Breaking Ceremony (GBC 3.0), the confidence of investors to invest in the hospitality sector in Uttar Pradesh was visible.
In the tourism and hospitality sector, 23 projects worth a cumulative investment of Rs 680 crores have been launched in the state. The new proposals clearly indicate a robust upturn in the sector as well as the potential in this sector.
The new investments in this sector are from all over the state, including in Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Ayodhya, Lucknow, Muzaffarnagar, Agra, Mathura, Meerut, Prayagraj and Varanasi. Rising interest is seen in setting up small hotels and hospitality related establishments in and around tourism attractions, medical and wellness tourism spots, hospitality-related establishments in different districts.
The proposals in Gorakhpur are Aishpra Solutions Private Limited (Rs 82.6 crores), Continental Developers Private Limited (Rs 36.2 crore) and Saket Kunj Landmark Private Limited (Rs 35 crores).
In Ayodhya, Hotel Janak Palace (Rs 14.5 crores) and Usharani Developers Private Limited (Rs 16 crore) are the two hospitality sector projects.
The projects in Bareilly include Juhi Sons Ramada Encore by Wyndham (Rs 22 crore), Chhabra Associates (Rs 20 crores) and RMS Hotels and Resorts Private Limited (Rs 55 crores).
Projects in Lucknow are Hotel Pradeep (Rs 25 crore), Sony Hotel (Rs 10.2 crore) and St Mary Intercontinental Child and Women Welfare Organization (Rs 10 crore.)
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In Agra, the project is from Sincere Developers Private Limited, worth Rs 65.8 crores. Hotel Ananda Heritage in Mathura (Rs 17 crore), Vaidic Naturopathy and Wellness Village in Meerut (Rs 150 crore), Hotel Ivyra (Rs 20 crore) and Namaste Airport Services Private Limited (Rs 60 crore) in Muzaffarnagar, Hotel Rama Continental in Prayagraj (Rs 10 crore) and Naveen Saree Kendra Private Limited (Rs 22.5 crore) in Varanasi are the other projects in this sector.
Hospitality related logistics projects are also being launched in many places. These include Devine Hospitality Associates in Bijnore (Rs 19.5 crore) and Shamli (Rs 13.5 crores).
The GBC-3 saw launching of 1406 proposals worth about Rs 80,000 crores in the ceremony presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of top industrialists such as Gautam Adani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Niranjan Hiranandani Matthew Eyries, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, and others. The impressive turnout of business and industry leaders, as well as the divergence of proposals in almost all key sectors, was largely possible because of the push given by the Prime Minister to the development of UP, and because of the investment-friendly policies enacted by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The tremendous improvement in ease of doing business and creation of an environment of security has led to the emergence of UP as a favourite investment destination.